AESOP-Small-Towns-Lecture_Series-2026.pdf
Beyond metropolitan centres, small towns are confronted with a wide range of challenges and opportunities linked to demographic change, social inequalities, ecological transitions, changing patterns of housing and mobility, and evolving forms of territorial governance. At the same time, their size, the communities and their environments can provide specific resources and capacities for transition, adaptation and innovation.
This lecture series explores how small towns across Europe are responding to these transformations, and how planning can contribute to shaping their future. The contributions address small towns from different disciplinary, geographical and methodological perspectives, bringing together questions of territorial cohesion, social and spatial inequalities, education and local knowledge, climate resilience, ecological transition, attractiveness and identity. They also examine more specific challenges, including seasonality, depopulation, demographic ageing, housing, mobility, and the effects of crisis and wars.
Beyond the diversity of these situations, the presentations share a common interest in understanding how small towns can navigate complex transitions while maintaining their capacities to provide opportunities and quality of life for their inhabitants and contributing to territorial cohesion in Europe. They also question the ways in which planning policies, professional expertise and local actors can support — or sometimes constrain — these processes of change. By bringing together experiences from different European contexts, the contributions invite us to consider small towns as active places of transition and experimentation.
This European lecture series is organized by the Thematic Group Small Towns of the Association of European Schools of Planning for the second year. It brings together scholars and experts from a variety of disciplines across Europe. It addresses researchers, students and practitioners alike.
Participation is online (Teams) via the following link: AESOP Small Towns Lecture Series | Teams
